Autonomous Seed Sowing Agricultural Robot
Jayakrishna P V S
Suryavamsi Reddy M
Jaswanth Sai N
Susheel N
Peeyush K P
Department of Electronics
and Communication
Engineering
Department of Electronics
and Communication
Engineering
Department of Electronics
and Communication
Engineering
Department of Electronics
and Communication
Engineering
Department of Electronics
and Communication
Engineering
Amrita School of
Engineering, Coimbatore
Amrita School of
Engineering, Coimbatore
Amrita School of
Engineering, Coimbatore
Amrita School of
Enigneering, Coimbatore
Amrita School of
Engineering, Coimbatore
Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetham, India
Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetham, India
Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetham, India
Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetham, India
Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetham, India
ponnuru.j7@gmail.com
suryavamsi.32@gmail.com jaswanthsain@gmail.com
Abstract— In agriculture there is need for a technology that is
more easily understood, implemented and used by the farmers.
Equipment that requires less human effort and time with less
cost of implementation is much required for success in
agricultural industry. Autonomous robots built with less
maintainance and that are portable as well as customizable
according to the requirements might serve the purpose here and
thus this paper presents you the design of a four wheel drive
robot that does the work of seed sowing in ploughed agricultural
land avoiding the human effort by tracing the path and sowing
seeds at equal intervals using the field area parameters(length
and breadth) and seed spacing intervals as inputs specified by the
user. It also takes you through the design process of the robot,
explains in detail the protype and the equipment used for
building it and the difficulties faced during the different phases
of the project. The paper also presents the sequence of steps to be
followed to come up with designing a wheel drive robot and the
parameters that has to be taken into consideration before
building the prototype.
Keywords- autonomous, customizable, agriculture, motor driver
I. INTRODUCTION
In India agriculture is an important occupation and the
number of people pursuing it as their occupation is high.
Technology is growing with generations and the villages are
being converted to urban areas and in turn farmers population
is reduced and also the labour who used to help the farmers in
farming is reduced and so in this situation there is necessity for
new technology to play a crucial role in making the farming a
better and easier occupation. Robot technology is one such
which can be used in different works of farming like seed
sowing, ploughing and other tasks as well and reduce the
necessity for human labour. Hence we chose to build a
prototype for seed sowing work in agricultural land which has
the ability to detect number of seed sowing points and
complete the path of seed sowing automatically. The prototype
built uses different mechanisms for different works it does in
the farming. Prototype uses rack and pinion mechanism for
digging the land and wheel mechanism for seed dropping
which are explained in detail in this paper[3]. This prototype
sushinaladi@gmail.com
peeyushkp@gmail.com
was designed to work in a ploughed land. Autonomous seed
sowing robot is designed to detect the number of seeds
required for the whole agricultural land based on the seeding
points and sow the seeds according to the inputs given by the
farmer. In general the most important part of designing a robot
is to follow the proper sequence of work flow mentioned
below. The below mentioned workflow sequence has been
followed to achieve the proper results in design and
implementation of the robot. This paper presents the design
and the prototype developed for seed sowing work in the
agricultural land[1]. It also gives an idea of how to build a
similar robot for the beginners.
II. SEQUENCE OF WORK FLOW
The most crucial part is the proper design of the robot and
that is achieved with proper sequence of work flow where we
get to know all the parameters required for the design of a
robot like the equipments to be placed, the weight to withstand
and the type of terrain in which it is used and others. Thus
design process which is a part of work flow sequence involves
the discussion on the requirements for building a robot, its
application and estimation of the practical difficulties. The
sequence of work flow in developing a prototype is :
•
Choose the application of the system that you
decided to build.
•
Discuss on the main agenda which is planned for
enhancing the previous existing systems.
•
Discuss on the mechanisms
hardware required.
•
Go through the mathematical calculations for
selecting the specific hardware.
•
Check if hardware is available according to our
calculations or get the similar.
•
Estimate the weight of the components.
•
Design the chassis using different softwares
available based on the above requirements and
analyze the design.
involved
978-1-5386-5314-2/18/$31.00
IEEE
2332
Authorized
licensed use limited to: Cornell©2018
University
Library. Downloaded
on September 03,2020 at 10:03:38 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
and
•
Start the implementation part with the fabrication
of the chassis and paralelly with the
implementation of circuits as modules so as to
complete the work on time.
•
Assemble all the components(electrical and
mechanical) to finally finish the prototype.
Following this sequence would bring successful results
when practically implemented. This sequence of workflow
varies based on the type of robot being built and the application
for which it is being used and the person building it. People
with experience and previous knowledge in building a robot
would prefer to reduce the costs just by reusing the available
material and increase the time for testing and eventually rectify
the mistakes.
III. DESIGN OF THE ROBOT
The software design of the mechanical model is developed
using the Auto CAD inventor and is presented in this paper. In
our project we have implemented the chassis design using mild
steel. The main reason behind using mild steel is to increase
the weight of the robot so that slipping of wheels in the field is
reduced and the robot is also protected from wrong navigation.
Mild steel is also less costly compared to aluminium, and also
working with aluminium is a bit difficult compared to the mild
steel, like in welding of aluminium will require special
equipment and cannot be directly welded using normal welding
techniques[19].
Hence after deciding the material to be used and the
components total weight estimation we can decide on the
dimensions of the robot. From our estimations we used a
33cm*33cm dimensions for building the robot. As there is
necessity for our robot to take a pivot turn at the end we chose
the robot chassis to be a square with length and breadth equal
and with distance between the centre of wheels to be the
minimum possible and the reason behind this is, when the
distance between the rear wheels and back wheels is less the
amount of distance it takes while turning is reduced and as well
the wheel force acting by the front wheel and back wheel are
equally balanced and the amount of power required for rotation
of wheels is also reduced[21].
Fig.2 Robot prototype
As shown in the CAD design, rack and pinion mechanism
is used for drilling in to the soil to make a hole and sow the
seed in it. Pinion is the circular wheel and the straight bar
available to that is called the Rack which is supported by a
slider to control the rack from moving aside during the motion
whose position has to be taken care as its psotion plays crucial
part in determining the stopping position of the robot. Pinion
present here is rotated using the servo mg995 which is fixed on
the side to the pinion which rotates and keeps the rack moving
up and down drilling in to the soil. Rack and Pinion is used to
effectively drill the soil while using less power from the
battery.
Fly wheel mechanism is used for dropping the seeds from
the seed cabin. The gap between the seed cabin bottom and
wheel that holds seeds in it and drops in to slider is very less so
that it does not allow more number of seeds to fall into the
wheel. Wheel dimension inside the flywheel is also designed in
such a way that the wheel in it can hold only one seed at a
time. When the wheel rotates to drop the seed the remaining
wheel closes the seed cabin and prevents from dropping extra
seeds. The seed slides from the wheel on to the slider and
enters the drilled hole. Flywheel mechanism is used as it has
high precision in dropping and reducing the wastage of
seeds[11].
IV. METHOD OF OPERATION
Fig.1 CAD design
Method of operation includes both electrical and
mechanical operations. The Robot built is used for agriculture
and the cost should be minimized making it more feasible for
everyone. The electrical setup includes a keypad, LCD,
Arduino Mega microcontroller, few servo motors and dc
motors for robot movement whereas the mechanical setup
includes Rack and Pinion mechanism, wheel mechanism for
seed dropping. The keypad is being used as the input device
and LCD as an intermediate device which displays the input
and also the count of seed sowing points and the number of
seed rows based on the given input. All those are calculated by
the processor/controller in the Arduino mega using the initial
parameters of the field like the length and breadth of the field
and the distance between each seeding point per row. All the
inputs here are taken in the units of feet. As the robot
dimension is 33cm * 33 cm a guard distance of 0.74ft on each
2333
Authorized licensed use limited to: Cornell University Library. Downloaded
on September 03,2020 at 10:03:38 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
side of the field is being used in order to make the turnings for
the robot easier without colliding with the edges of the field.
A. Keypad and LCD
The inputs are given through the keypad and initially the
arduino will ask for the inputs displaying through the LCD and
of those first it asks for the length of the field and the arduino is
given the instructions in such a way that the given input is
taken in foot while ‘*’ is used as the enter button after the input
is given. Later it asks for the breadth of the field and then the
seeding point distance and finally after taking all these inputs
the number of seeding points and the number of seed rows are
calculated and displayed on the LCD. LCD and keypad are the
most user friendly components that can be easily understood
and worked on and they are also the most feasible for our
project in terms of cost and interaction.
B. Seeding path
The path of the robot is ‘Zigzag’, and it is programmed in
such a way that it takes the right turn first and left turn next. So
in order to avoid faults the robot has to be placed at the left
corner of a field considering the guard distance. The robot
starts drilling from the position it is placed and then starts to
move in the path and sow seeds accordingly. The path of the
robot is based on the inputs(length, breadth and seed to seed
distance) given by the user[17]. The processing done by the
arduino based on the inputs :
Length of the field = l(ft)
Breadth of the field = b(ft)
Distance between seeding points = d(ft)
Guard distance = m1 = 0.74(ft)
Calculations: number of seed points in each row = n1
Number of rows = n2
Fig.3 Block Diagram of working mechanism
Finding effective field parameters left after removing the
guard distance
l1 = l - (2*m1)
(1)
b1 = b - (2*m1)
(2)
Now calculate n1, n2
n1 = l1/d
(3)
n2 = b1/d
(4)
These n1, n2 are displayed on the LCD for the user.
Fig.4 Circuit block diagram
C. Rack and Pinion
Rack and pinion is a common mechanism used for top
down motion of objects with less effort and mechanisms. Here
the robot has to drill and the driller should not make any
problem like making the robot loose its control and making it
move away from the seeding position where rack and pinion
with a servo motor would be the better choice. The rack is the
stick which is used for up down movement and the pinion is a
circular object and this is controlled by the servo motor which
is being in turn controlled by the arduino controller[8]. The
bottom end of the rack will be connected to a v-shaped drill bit
which makes the drillling work more easier due to its
sharpness.
2334
Authorized licensed use limited to: Cornell University Library. Downloaded
on September 03,2020 at 10:03:38 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
D. Wheel mechanism
The mechanism used for dropping the seed is a wheel with
a small hole protruding in to it and it is used to carry a seed
from the seed cabin and drop it onto a slider from where the
seed slides into the drilled area[2]. This wheel is being
controlled by the arduino using a servo motor which is used
because it needs only a half turn(180 degree) to serve the
purpose. The seed falls down into the hole from the seed tank
and then the wheel rotates and the seed falls into the casing that
is there around the wheel, this casing has a cut in the lower part
from where the seed goes onto the slider and finally into the
drilled part of the field. This is how the seed is being dropped
into the drilled area by using a wheel with a small hole on the
circumference of it and with wall on all sides avoiding the
seeds falling away from the slider. This brings an advantage of
seeds not being wasted.
E. Movement of Robot
The movement of the robot is controlled by the arduino
through L298N motor driver based on the inputs given and on
the path it has to take. The motors used are DC geared motors
(motors used in car window system). The motors are driven by
the motor drivers in order to make sure all the motors will have
equal distribution of power. The wheels are not directly
connected to the shafts of the motors but a gear is being used as
a connector in order to drive the wheels using motors. These
motors require high currents and the load on the wheels is also
high comparatively which has to be reduced as desired or else
it might lead us to increasing the amount of power supplied.
The motors used are of 50rpm speed with high torque
which helps the robot to pick up and move easily. There has
been a delay given to the wheel movement to make robot take
the appropriate distance which is nothing but using the dealy
for distance measurement. We made sure robot wheels do not
slip in such land by using proper rubber material for the wheels
and by proper weight management.
VI. FUTURE SCOPE
In future we would like to implement this robot with much
advanced wheels and sensors which could control the motion
of the robot under even the worst field conditions. In future we
would like to implement this robot with some IOT integrated in
it as that helps in operating the robot from wherever we are and
whenever we need[4]. In future there is a scope for
implementing this robot as a multifunctional robot which does
the works like monitoring the crop, weed control and other[3].
There is also scope for preventing the robot damage from the
natural weather conditions while it is operating in field. The
design can also be altered in such a way that all these can be
implemented as different modules which can be used according
to requirements and can be easily assembled. Thus this robot
can serve well in the field of farming and help the farmers in
future.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
V. CONCLUSION
The robot was designed properly according to the
calculations and was autonomised using different sensors and
controllers. The robot maximized the number of seeding points
as well reduced the wastage of seeds for a given dimensions of
the field, basically a sqaure field was considered by taking left
corner of the field as the starting point for seeding. The robot
was powered using lead acid battery and took a pivot turn as
expected during the design of the chassis. Based on the delay
all the mechanisms were run and was good to see all the
mechanisms working in expected sequence to the maximum.
The seed sowing mechanism also worked well with a margin
of two. Sometimes it drops two seeds instead of dropping one
which can be rectified with perfect fabrication of the flywheel.
The seed dropped in to the drilled area with maximum
approximation. The robot can be improved in its functioning
and seed dropping work with better fabrication techniques. The
most difficult part was in deciding the power supply required
for the robot and as well the type of power supply to use.
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QooHpnYLj1w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zje7rHNDD7c
R. N. K. Hemanth, Ganesha, U., Navaneeth, K., and Vijay, S., “Design
and Fabrication of Multi-purpose Wall Climbing Robot Platform”,
International Conference on Advances in Engineering and Technology,
AET-2014. Amritapuri, pp. 88-99, 2014.
S. Aswath, Krishna, T. Chinmaya, Abhay, S., and Ganesha, U., “Design
and Development of Mobile Operated Control System for Humanoid
Robot”, International journal of Advances in Computing, vol. 3, no. 3,
pp. 50-56, 2013.
N. Srinivasan et al., "Design of an autonomous seed planting
robot,"2016 IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technology Conference
(R10-HTC), Agra, 2016, pp. 1-4.
N. S. Naik, V. V. Shete and S. R. Danve, "Precision agriculture robot for
seeding function,"2016 International Conference on Inventive
Computation Technologies (ICICT), Coimbatore, 2016, pp. 1-3
R. Eaton, J. Katupitiya, K. W. Siew and B. Howarth, "Autonomous
Farming: Modeling and Control of Agricultural Machinery in a Unified
Framework,"2008 15th International Conference on Mechatronics and
Machine Vision in Practice, Auckland, 2008, pp. 499-504
S. Umarkar and A. Karwankar, "Automated seed sowing agribot using
arduino,"2016 International Conference on Communication and Signal
Processing (ICCSP), Melmaruvathur, 2016, pp. 1379-1383
Prashant G.Salinkhe , Sahil Y.Shaikh, Mayur S.Dhable , Danis I.Sayyad,
Azeem S. Tamboli , "Automatic Seed Plantation Robot,"International
Journal of Engineering Science and Computing, ISSN 2321 - 3361 ,
Vol.6, Issue No.4
Goris,
Kristof.
"Autonomous
mobile
robot
mechanical
design."VrijeUniversiteitBrussel, Engineering Degree Thesis, Brussels,
Belgium (2005).
Bute, P. V., Shailesh Deshmukh, Govind Rai, Chetan Patil, and Vishal
Deshmukh. "Design and Fabrication of Multipurpose Agro System."
(2018).
Neha S. Naik, Virendra. V. Shete, Shruti. R. Danve, "Precision
agriculture robot for seeding function", Inventive Computation
Technologies (ICICT) International Conference, vol. 2, pp. 1-3, 2016
Amrita Sneha. A, Abirami. E, Ankita. A, R. Praveena and R. Srimeena,
"Agricultural Robot for automatic ploughing and seeding," 2015 IEEE
Technological Innovation in ICT for Agriculture and Rural Development
(TIAR), Chennai, 2015, pp. 17-23.
K. D. Sowjanya, R. Sindhu, M. Parijatham, K. Srikanth and P. Bhargav,
"Multipurpose autonomous agricultural robot," 2017 International
conference of Electronics, Communication and Aerospace Technology
(ICECA), Coimbatore, 2017, pp. 696-699.
2335
Authorized licensed use limited to: Cornell University Library. Downloaded
on September 03,2020 at 10:03:38 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
[15] A. Gollakota and M. B. Srinivas, "Agribot — A multipurpose
agricultural robot," 2011 Annual IEEE India Conference, Hyderabad,
2011, pp. 1-4.
[16] M. Monta, N. Kondo and Y. Shibano, "Agricultural robot in grape
production system," Proceedings of 1995 IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Automation, Nagoya, 1995, pp. 2504-2509
vol.3.
[17] J. Xue and L. Xu, "Autonomous Agricultural Robot and its Row
Guidance," 2010 International Conference on Measuring Technology
and Mechatronics Automation, Changsha City, 2010, pp. 725-729.
[18] F. Sistler, "Robotics and intelligent machines in agriculture," in IEEE
Journal on Robotics and Automation, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 3-6, February
1987.
[19] L. Grimstad, C. D. Pham, H. T. Phan and P. J. From, "On the design of a
low-cost, light-weight, and highly versatile agricultural robot," 2015
IEEE International Workshop on Advanced Robotics and its Social
Impacts (ARSO), Lyon, 2015, pp. 1-6.
[20] M. H. Ko, B. S. Ryuh, K. C. Kim, A. Suprem and N. P. Mahalik,
"Autonomous Greenhouse Mobile Robot Driving Strategies From
System Integration Perspective: Review and Application,"
in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, Aug. 2015.
[21] F. Fleckenstein, C. Dornhege and W. Burgard, "Efficient path planning
for mobile robots with adjustable wheel positions," 2017 IEEE
International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA),
Singapore, 2017, pp. 2454-2460.
[22] T. Blender, T. Buchner, B. Fernandez, B. Pichlmaier and C. Schlegel,
"Managing a Mobile Agricultural Robot Swarm for a seeding
task,"IECON 2016 - 42nd Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial
Electronics Society, Florence, 2016, pp. 6879-6886
2336
Authorized licensed use limited to: Cornell University Library. Downloaded
on September 03,2020 at 10:03:38 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.